Sorting Lights and Darks
by Laura of Maychoria
Summary: Going from bachelorhood to having a family takes some adjustment. (Scenes from the life of the new Kagami family in the months after Come Morning Light)


Suddenly having a family around, after living alone for the better part of a year, required adjustments. While on the whole Kagami was overjoyed to have the double greatness of both his dad back from the States _and_ a new little brother in the form of his best friend, there were parts that annoyed him. Or at least threw him off. Kagami was a creature of routine in his domestic life, and now that routine had been thoroughly disrupted.

For one thing, Dad did not get the two-basket laundry system. Kagami had found it to be quite satisfactory. He kept two baskets of dirty clothes—one light and one dark. When one basket filled up, he washed the clothes, dried them, and put them away. He had gotten into a nice rhythm of only needing to do one basket a week, which as far as he was concerned was plenty.

So now there were two more people in the house, which was great. When Kagami first explained the two-basket laundry system to Tetsu, before the adoption and everything, he nodded solemnly and agreed. "That's very efficient, Kagami-kun," he said immediately, and ever after he took care to sort his dirty clothes the way Kagami did, dark in one basket and light in the other. Kagami figured that he was going to have to do laundry more often now, with the baskets filling up twice as fast, but he didn't mind. But then Dad joined them, too.

Kagami didn't know what Dad had done about his laundry in LA, but it was apparent that he had never used a two-basket system, or any system at all, probably. When Dad had dirty clothes, he just put them wherever. _Wherever._ He seemed pleased that there were two common baskets, and even praised Kagami for his excellent household skills, but then _he put the darks in the light and the lights in the darks and when Kagami tried to explain the difference he **didn't listen.**_ He nodded very calmly and promised to follow the system in the future, but by the end of the day he had already forgotten it, so he kept just _dumping his clothes wherever._

Kagami resigned himself to always having to do some sorting. If he kept up on it every day, it wasn't a big deal. Annoying, though.

Tetsu, at least, was very accommodating of the various systems and routines Kagami had set up for himself. Kagami suspected that Tetsu had had quite a few of his own at his old home, with a large apartment and a father who worked late often. So Tetsu, kind and unobtrusive Tetsu, altered his own ways to fit Kagami's method of doing things. But that didn't mean Tetsu was a perfect housemate. Far from it.

There was the thing with the natto, which Kagami had resigned himself to. It didn't exactly make the fridge smell bad, the way Kagami had feared, since the packaging it came in was good. But every morning. Every morning...

Kagami would get his cornflakes, his sweet delicious Western cornflakes, and he would pour a bowl and add milk, and then he stood at the counter, still half-asleep, and shoveled cornflakes into his mouth while he stared out the windows at the early morning sunlight. A few minutes later, invariably, Tetsu would emerge from his room, shuffling like a zombie, his bedhair defying gravity as it always did. And he would open the steaming rice cooker that had been set the previous night and fill a bowl, then fetch the natto from the fridge.

And the smell. The smell. Kagami's sense of smell was sensitive, okay? It always had been. He couldn't help it. Natto had a strong smell. It invaded everything. And Kagami's cornflakes would start to taste like natto, and that was just _unfair._ So he would choke down the rest of the bowl, eyes watering, and vow that the next morning he would wake up a little earlier and finish his breakfast before Tetsu got up.

He always failed, though. No matter when he got up, Tetsu always followed a few minutes later. It was like he could just tell where Kagami was somehow, always, by some sort of clairvoyance that was specific only to his new nii-san, and he chose to stay nearby. The only saving grace for the situation was that Tetsu was always so disoriented and out of it in the morning that he never seemed to notice how much the smell of his natto bothered Kagami.

So at least Tetsu wouldn't feel bad and stop eating his preferred food. That was the last thing Kagami wanted. He didn't want his little brother to stop eating the breakfast he liked. He just...didn't want to be there when it happened. And yet he couldn't escape. It was annoying.

Also, Kagami had gotten used to just taking a bath whenever he wanted to. Now he had to wait, sometimes, and Dad was not easy on the hot water. And Tetsu left his towels on the floor. And _someone_ kept using Kagami's shampoo, but he could never quite figure out which one of them was doing it. He was tempted to switch to a scented variety so he could sniff their hair later and figure out who it was, but that seemed like too much work, as well as unforgivably petty. So he just...got used to it.

He knew he wasn't the only one who was having to make adjustments. Dad had been used to living alone, too, having coffee for breakfast and fast food for lunch and takeout for supper. Tetsu, Kagami began to suspect, had probably lived on little more than vanilla milkshakes before he came to them. Kagami worked very hard to make up for their nutritional deficiencies, which wasn't always appreciated. When both Tetsu and Dad made identical faces at him when he presented a plate of cut vegetables for an evening snack one day, he almost gave up in despair.

But he did not. He persevered. It was important to get Tetsu's weight back up, the glow of health back in face, and Kagami was happy to see the American flab beginning to melt away from Dad's waistline, too. It was hard work and it was lonely sometimes, but it was worth it. He didn't even have to adjust the quantity of his cooking much, since he'd always made plenty of food for himself. He added a few more recipes to his repertoire to please his sometimes picky family. Kagami loved to see Tetsu's eyes light up when his favorite dish came around, or to get Dad's brilliant grin and rough hair-ruffling as thanks.

New routines had to be added, too, as well as old ones being adjusted. For all of them. Dad started trying to make bentos for them in the evening, which wasn't always successful. Kagami and Tetsu ate more than one lunch that left them feeling queasy for the rest of the day. But he got better as he kept trying, and neither of his sons ever told him to stop. The love and caring in the gesture, and the hours Dad spent on it, more than made up for any early stumbles.

The new routine that made Kagami the saddest was Tetsu's. He spotted him, once, when passing by Tetsu's open bedroom door on his way to the kitchen to get something. Tetsu had been sitting at his desk, studying quietly, when he suddenly stood, went over to the closet, and opened the door. Kagami froze at the sight, watching quietly, as Tetsu shoved aside his clothes and stared at something inside the closet. His shoulders were tense, his eyes unblinking, and there was a shaky urgency in his movements that made Kagami's heart rise into his throat. Tetsu looked into the closet for a moment, then abruptly relaxed, shoulders falling down. He might have even swayed where he stood. Then he pushed the clothes back and went to his desk and sat down with a tiny sigh.

Kagami slowly made his way to the kitchen, pondering this, turning it over and over in his head. He knew this was something private that he'd accidentally stumbled upon, and he was pretty sure Tetsu would be embarrassed if he asked about it, so he wanted to figure it out on his own if he could. After a little while, it clicked.

Tetsu was checking to make sure there was no strap hanging on the wall in his closet.

The next time they bumped into each other in the hall, Kagami stopped Tetsu with a hand on his shoulder. Tetsu looked up at him, eyes wide and questioning, but made no move to get away. Kagami put his arms around him and held him tight. Tetsu stiffened for a moment, then melted into it. He breathed in, then out, trembling, relieved. Neither of them said anything. They didn't need to.

It wasn't unusual for spontaneous hugging to break out whenever any of them bumped into each other, actually. In the beginning, Dad and Kagami put effort into making sure to be free with casual touches and physical affection because they were both sharply aware that Tetsu needed it. Before long, though, it became a habit. It wasn't just Dad and Kagami hugging Tetsu, of course. Kagami and Dad hugged a lot more than they ever used to, as well. And the arms slung around shoulders, the gentle head pats and nose boops, the grins and smiles and contented snuggling into sides and shoulders whenever any of them sat together. It was easy, and it felt great. Definitely the best new routine the three of them established.

Another good one was movie and pizza night, of course. They didn't get it in every week, because things happened to interrupt even the most important routines, but they certainly made an effort. More often than not, they found time on a Friday or Saturday night to order pizza from the least-gross pizza place and then watch a movie together. Sometimes a friend or two was over at the time, like that first night with Akashi, but most of the time it was just the Kagami family. Hiroshi-san, Taiga-nii, Tetsu-chan. As it should be.

They ran out of Studio Ghibli films much more quickly than Kagami would have liked. He would have been happy just starting over from the beginning, but Dad pointed out that there were plenty of Disney films he'd managed to miss, too, despite having lived in America for so long. Tetsu was amenable, so they started going through the catalogue. Kagami had to admit that most of those were pretty good, too, though there was a miss here or there. He was a big fan of the animal Robin Hood, anyway, and Aladdin and The Lion King were great.

Then one night Dad popped in Tarzan, and things went downhill fast. "I've never seen this one, either," Dad declared cheerfully. So none of them were prepared.

It started out with death, of course. A baby gorilla, Tarzan's parents. Par for the course. And then there was a scene with the mama gorilla saving baby Tarzan from a leopard that was both funny and thrilling, and then…

For some reason they were all sitting on the sofa with Dad in the middle, and this was where things started getting bad. The mama gorilla took baby Tarzan back to the tribe, and Dad teared up. "She's adopting him," he whispered.

"Dad…" Kagami said, voice rising with anxiety.

Dad waved at hand at him. "Shut up, I'm trying to listen."

Tetsu craned around Dad to give Kagami a concerned look. He grimaced back at him and jerked his head toward Dad, trying to give him a heads up. Tetsu's eyebrows wrinkled. Right, this was the first time for him.

He didn't know how mushy Dad got about melodramatic family scenes in movies. He was about to learn.

Then it got worse.

"Oh no," Kagami murmured. "They're singing…"

 _Come stop your crying, it'll be all right  
Just take my hand, hold it tight  
I will protect you from all around you  
I will be here, don't you cry_

"Dad…"

He just waved at him again, even more frantically. "Shut up, I'm fine." His voice was completely choked.

Now Tetsu had to get involved. "Hiroshi-san…" He sounded honestly worried.

Tears were streaming down Dad's face. "I'm fine!"

 _For one so small, you seem so strong  
My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm  
This bond between us can't be broken  
I will be here, don't you cry_

 _'Cause you'll be in my heart_

Dad was not okay. He was sobbing now. "Stop the movie, stop the movie!"

Kagami fumbled for the remote, dropped on the floor some indeterminate time earlier, then found the pause button. Dad had already wrapped an arm around Tetsu's neck, crushing him into his side, and when Kagami sat back, he got the same treatment. Dad squeezed them both hard and close while he tried to suck back his tears and mainly succeeded in just being very noisy and moist.

"Dad, calm down."

"Hiroshi-san, are you okay?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Dad's fingers clenched in their shirts. "It's just...he lost his family, and she adopted him, and the others thought it was strange, but she didn't care, and I can't help but think…"

"Oh my God, Dad, you are so embarrassing."

Tetsu sounded faintly offended. "I've been over this with Taiga-nii. I'm not a fish. And you are definitely not a _gorilla."_

"I know, I know." Dad sniffed again, hard. It was disgusting. "I know I'm being silly, but I can't help it. That poor little baby is so precious. And so are you, Tetsu-chan."

Kagami's words choked off in his throat. "Oh my God, Dad. Stop. Please stop."

"I'm trying. I can't. Give me a minute."

"Please, Dad. _Please."_

"Yes," Tetsu echoed, frustration clear in his voice even though he had wrapped an arm around Dad's front in instinctive response to the clutching. "Please stop, Dad."

"I'm trying, I'm trying…" Dad caught his breath and went still. Even his sniffling stopped. Then he looked over at Tetsu, his eyes wide. Kagami, now trapped with his head bent against Dad's chest by Dad's clutching arm, saw Tetsu's eyes widen in response.

"Did…" Dad's voice was full of wonder, wavering and soft. "Did you just call me…"

Tetsu gulped, his face twisting, then nodded. "I...I did. Is… Is that okay?"

"Is that okay?" Dad echoed incredulously. _"Is that okay?_ Oh, Tetsu-chan, I wanted… I always wanted… But I didn't want to force you… Of course it's _okay,_ it's, it's…"

Tetsu's face screwed up even more, his eyes filling with tears, and then Kagami couldn't even see his features anymore because his eyes were blurry, too, and then they were all crying. It was a huge mess. The worst ever. But also the best.

It was a good half hour before they got back to the movie.

It wasn't a complete change. Tetsu still called him "Hiroshi-san" most of the time, but "Dad" slipped in now and then, too. It was especially effective when Tetsu was making a request, not that he ever asked for much, nor had any difficulty in getting Dad to do anything he wanted in the first place. Both Kagami and Dad were pretty firmly wrapped around Tetsu's little finger. It was fortunate that he never used this power for anything but good, and indeed seemed oblivious to the fact that he had it at all.

So yeah, a lot of things had changed. Going from being alone to having a family was a huge adjustment. But Kagami never regretted it. Not even a little bit.

 **The End**


End file.
